Monday, Harvard student Grace Choi set beauty enthusiasts abuzz when she presented her 3D makeup printer, Mink, to the crowd at TechCrunch Disrupt. A video of the entrepreneur demoing her $300 invention went viral—for both her frank beliefs on the premium the beauty industry charges and the possibilities of never having to buy makeup again. Could the beauty industry be in danger of a DIY takeover? Choi claims your phone, computer or camera can now become your own beauty aisle of inspiration. While the machine might have an undeniable color spectrum, we have to wonder if custom color is enough to compete with sales of our favorite makeup staples. I wear MAC's Ruby Woo almost daily and while the matte tomato red color is what keeps me hooked, even if I could recreate it, would I really want to put printer ink on my lips? There is certainly more to our beloved products than just color. What about top-level ingredients, wearability innovations and multi-purpose solutions?

We asked Jim Hammer of Mix Solutions Consulting, one of the industry's leading expert in cosmetic chemistry, his thoughts on the controversial technology and if has legs to compete the beauty counter. "With all the recent buzz about 3D printing technology, this seems like a natural extension of the application and a cool concept," Hammer told BAZAAR.com. "That said, I think it is far from actual implementation, because Choi does not have a cosmetic chemist's grasp of the underlying technologies required to make this work. For example, many of the colorants that are used in makeup are mineral pigments, iron oxides, ultramarine colorants, etc. These are insoluble powders, and are not nearly the same as the liquid colorant solutions that are typically used in CYMK-type inkjet printers. And then there are the special effect pigments, micas and similar materials, to give sparkle and shine...how do those get included?"

He continued saying, "Great idea, but I see a whole lot of formulation work that needs to happen in order to make this concept a reality. This will be a little like going to the paint store and selecting custom colors for your house paint. I see this resulting in proprietary ink packs, and special uncolored bases (eyeshadow, lipstick, mascara, etc. base) which are formulated to work with the printer device, some of which may be a bit expensive. The uncolored base materials could potentially be made to be quite cosmetically elegant, hydrating, etc., possessing all of the tactile properties of similar colored cosmetics, but you can also expect that good formulas will probably not be cheap. Add to that the hardware and software costs involved, in my opinion, it's going to be difficult to get this one off the ground."